


Let It Snow

by thegingermidget



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, Winter, bar setting, hux is a hyperstressed business man, kylo is a singer, kylux secret santa, some alcohol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9052900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegingermidget/pseuds/thegingermidget
Summary: Hux can't believe that Phasma managed to drag him to a bar, let alone a bar as loud and packed with dancers as this one. At least the band has a cute lead singer...
For the verymerrykylux secret santa gift exchange this one's for skullbreakers on tumblr





	

This isn’t a place Hux normally frequents. That much is obvious by his peacoat and button down shirt. Despite the below freezing temperatures and the snow collecting on the ground, he’s the only one in the bar dressed for the weather. Any kind of scarf or jacket has been immediately shed on entry, leaving the patrons scantily clad, mostly in black.

He can barely hear Phasma as she shouts over the frothing band on stage.

“There she is, behind the bar.” She’s pointing to a girl mixing drinks at the back of the room. “I’m gonna go over, want anything?”

Hux contemplates asking for a real drink, but decides the order will get lost over the noise and yells ‘beer’ which doesn’t seem to get lost in translation. 

He’s left alone next to grinding bodies and customers pushing past him. Leaning against the wall seems the safest option to get out of the fray, and soon he finds himself with a little bit of breathing room. A couple has also decided this is the spot with the most free space. He has no choice but to watch them, practically pantsless at this point, edge closer and closer to his personal space.

Why had he let Phasma take him here?

The band on stage is, in a word, terrible. The have a steady groove going, the drummer being the only member of the group with musical sense. The guitarist is amplified far too much so that all anyone can hear is the growling reverb of an angsty melody. Reappearing on stage after the guitar solo, the lead singer leaps back on stage drink in hand and moans into the microphone. Hux looks away in disgust as the singer straddles the microphone stand.

Phasma had dragged him here because she thought he needed a night out and perhaps he did. All he ever did after work was go home and work more there but with a scotch. Sure, he needed a break, but was this the way to go about it? The couple next to him brushed up against his shoulder. This was most assuredly not the place.

After having his sanctuary against the wall invaded, Hux decides to go up to the bar. He’s sure Phasma has made her move on the bartender already, and if she hasn’t he really doesn’t care. A slight panic is rising up in his chest, nevermind that he’s never been claustrophobic a day in his life. Maybe it’s the thundering bass from the stage, but Hux knows he has to get out of here.

He sidles up to Phasma at the bar and after a moment of looking surprised, she realizes it’s him and slides him his beer. She’s smiling at the bartender who Hux gets a closer look of at last.

The woman has a sweet face, much too sweet and innocent for the eyeliner and number of piercings in her ears. It’s incongruous in the same way Hux would look if he dressed in all black like the patrons dancing here tonight. She says something to Phasma in a voice too soft for him to overhear. Hux decides he doesn’t want to know what it was when Phasma lets out a bark of laughter.

Someone new gets behind the bar, a tan man with dark hair and an easy grin. He taps the woman’s shoulder and apologizes. It’s impossible to hear anything over the thrum of the crowd and the clash of instruments, but he mouths ‘sorry’ with a sheepish smile. The woman rolls her eyes with a smile and holds up a finger to Phasma as if to say ‘one minute’. She’s very good at communicating with no words at all.

“That’s Rey,” shouts Phasma. She has a sergeant’s voice that can be heard through anything. “Her dad owns the bar or something. We’re going back to my place now that she’s finished her shift.”

“How long have you been seeing her?”

Phasma punches him on the arm, hard. Message received. 

“Well have fun, I guess.” Most of the sentence is too quiet to be heard.

“You’re the one that needs to have fun tonight. Jesus Christ, I hate leaving you here alone.” She studies him with eyes that look like she’s still about to stay here with him.

“No,” he says. “God no. I’ll be fine. This isn’t my first time in a bar you know.” 

It is his first time in a bar that’s this level of… edgy. He can’t really say that this was ever his cup of tea. Part of him is sure that things can’t go that badly. He hopes that Phasma is seeing this part of him and not the part that wanted to leave the second he walked in. 

Hux tries not to flinch under Phasma’s scrutiny and glances towards the stage. A hush has fallen over the mosh pit as a new band takes the stage. They can’t be any worse than the last one.

Upon looking back, he sees that Phasma has been distracted by the return of Rey who now sports a face free of most of her makeup and fewer earrings. The pretty face hidden beneath it all is now in full view and Hux can see Phasma is open mouthed and breathless. 

Rey introduces herself to Hux, but very little is said once the lead singer of the new band starts speaking from up on stage. Hux turns to acknowledge what’s being said and Rey nudges him on the arm. The gesture seems far too familiar.

“That’s just my cousin trying to stir up the crowd. He does the same routine to kick things off every time and they just eat it up.”

The man on stage had long black hair that hung down in loose waves over much of his face. He wore all black with chipped black nails. The aesthetic was laughable to Hux and he could see that the man and the crowd took it way too seriously.

“I used to do this with him,” says Rey conspiratorially. “but I couldn’t take it anymore. Plus, I make way more money with tips now.”

“You can sing?” asked Hux, with only surface-level interest.

“And play bass. You?”

“I played clarinet in high school and took piano lessons. Haven’t done it in a while.”

The band starts their first song and Hux notices the rest of the band behind Rey’s cousin. They are dressed in all black but wore striking black ski masks. Cloaked faceless figures man the drums, keyboard, guitar, and bass. Only the lead singer’s face could be seen. 

They have a different sound than the band before them. It still sounds like noise to Hux’s ears, but it has a techno space-age sound to the rock guitar and drums. Hux finds it hard to take his eyes off of the lead singer. The masks leave the eye no choice but to look at the lead singer and take him in.

“His name’s Ben, but he goes by Kylo up there,” says Rey.

“That’s pretentious,” says Hux without meaning to and without much venom in his voice.

Rey laughs, though, and Phasma decides it’s time to leave.

“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” she asks one last time.

He says in mock exasperation, “I’m not a child, Phasma.” 

Finally, she shrugs a wave over her shoulder as Rey tells him how nice it was to meet.

Hux steals Phasma’s seat at the bar and orders another drink. The bartender hands it to him with a wink and tells him his name is Poe. Hux has no intention of doing anything with that information, but somehow it makes him a little less uncomfortable. 

The band on stage has swelled into an even louder crescendo than before, with the guitar singing on top of all the other noise. Hux can almost call it beautiful. That is, until the singer comes back in.

Kylo has a deep crooning voice, ideally suited to this genre. He breathes into the microphone like he’s trying to make love to it. On a less handsome man, it would be comical.

He is handsome, though. Hux can appreciate that even from the bar. As he sings, he fusses with his long black mane, sometimes revealing his uncommon face. He has dark brown eyes, almost black to suit his look. His sharp nose and pouting lips shouldn’t come together to look beautiful, and yet that is the perfect way to describe it. The black eyeliner nearly ruins him, turns him into a farce and not a person, but the emotion in his voice has something real in it. He has something deeper to him.

Hux notices girls at the foot of the stage fawning over the singer and wants to vomit. It’s disgusting the way they drool over someone they’ve never met. Kylo could be a complete lunatic, and probably is considering the way he dresses. Hux asks the bartender for something stronger.

The way Kylo performs is mesmerizing. Hux finds himself staring at the tall and muscular lead singer more often than he should. He’s very fit, Hux thinks. There are times where he wonders if he catches Hux’s eye from on stage. The idea is ridiculous. Kylo is performing to a bouncing, screaming crowd. There’s no way he can see Hux all the way back here. 

The song finishes to loud cheers from the crowd. Kylo wipes sweat from his brow and smiles to his band. They nod to one another as if to say ’not bad’ and a high five is exchanged off to the side of the stage between the keyboardist and the bass player. 

Hux thinks they might be getting ready to take a break when the keyboardist begins to play a soft introduction. It’s slow and twinkles like a lullaby. Kylo grasps the microphone in both hands.

“This next song goes out to the guy at the bar rolling his eyes. This one’s for you handsome.”

Hux froze. The empty glass in his hand nearly shatters. Poe behind breathes a small whistle and goes about polishing glasses. Kylo is staring directly at him and Hux realizes he’s been looking back at him all night. 

No one in the crowd of bar patrons gives Hux more than a cursory glance back at him. All of them are much more focused on hearing the next song. 

It starts off as a love song. A ballad of a young boy falling in love with the wrong person and losing track of them as life goes on. Then life brings them back together and the boy is willing to do anything to keep his love around. The boy makes a pact with the devil to keep them together forever and at that point Hux stopped listening. So what if the song was for him? He didn’t have to like it.

Hux realizes he’s made absolutely no effort to talk to anyone tonight. The thought doesn’t disappoint him as much as he thought it would. At this point in his life, he’s just grateful he spent some time outside of his apartment and his office. Maybe this was a step in the direction, but it seemed far enough for now.

With a few bills, he settles his tab with Poe who doesn’t seem surprised to see him go. Hux asks if there’s a back exit he can use so he isn’t forced to wade back into the throng. With a finger, Poe beckons him to the side of the bar and points towards a door at the far end of a hallway.

Retching noises echo from one of the other doors that line the hall. Back here is a kitchen and stairs that lead to the apartment above. From the main room, Hux can hear applause and the sounds of the band breaking down for the night.

His watch tells him it is just past midnight. Reluctantly, he feels a surge of pride for even staying this late.

Just as Poe instructed, the door at the end of the dark hallway led outside. Snow was still falling, but less than an inch had stuck to the pavement in the alley. Hux took a moment among the trash bins to orient himself outside the bar. How was he getting home?

Behind him, the door almost hits him as it opens again. Hux isn’t sure who he expects it to be, maybe Poe with trash or another patron. He doesn’t expect to look into the face of Kylo.

His brown eyes have a piercing intensity and then it fades into an innocent kind of insecurity.

“Hey,” he says. He gives Hux a look up and down and bites one of the lips Hux had admired from the bar. “Leaving so soon?”

“What do you care?” Hux bites back. He’s not sure why, but he refuses to encourage wanton bar singers, even good looking, interested ones.

“Well… I uh,” Kylo swallows. “D-did you like the song?”

Hux took a breath. This was too much. There was no way this was the same man who had stepped on stage and commanded the attention of everyone in the room. 

“Sure,” said Hux without thinking. “You’re great.” 

Hux really wanted to lie down. Perhaps the drinks he’d had were getting to him, or maybe the lack of sleep? He’s backed himself into one of the stone walls of the alley.

Kylo’s face is so much more open than he could have expected. Each emotion flickers across his face and now it holds the tiniest bit of hope. 

“Listen, I don’t know if this is too forward…” Kylo leans against an arm just left of Hux’s head. The move seems so practiced to seem cool. Like so much about him, this is another role to play.

“It is, for someone wearing eyeliner,” says Hux, not flinching from the close proximity. Snow has begun to settle in the silky black hair. 

“Maybe we could grab a drink sometime,” He lets out a small laugh. “Even if it means I take off the makeup?”

Hux gives him a measured look. “Fine. Not here, though,” He adds, feeling the need to make that clear. “You can keep the fishnets on if you want.”

“I’ll be sure to,” Kylo answers with a rakish grin that looks as though it belongs to someone else. “Does tomorrow night make me seem too eager?”

Hux pretends to think for a moment. The brown eyes taking in his every move are so magnetic. The two men are of a height and yet Kylo still seems taller. He feels as though he is looking up into their shining depths before he leans in to kiss those pink lips.

When they broke apart, Hux smiled for the first time all night. Kylo was open mouthed with red in his cold cheeks. 

“Not at all,” said Hux, and reached into Kylo’s back pocket to find his phone. “Here’s my number. See you then.”

Without another word he turned away and started walking towards the end of the alley. The streetlight illuminated every snowflake that fell with golden light. 

“Hey, wait!” Footsteps echo from behind and Kylo skids to a stop beside him. “Let me walk you home. I don’t even know your name.”

Hux resists the urge to roll his eyes, though apparently, Kylo finds cynicism very attractive. “Fine.” He starts walking into the dark, still not quite sure how to get back to his apartment from here. Kylo stays with him, matching every step.

“I put my name into your phone, you know.” 

Kylo doesn’t answer right away. He’s looking up into the snow coming down in ceaseless waves. He takes Hux’s hand and smiles because, yes, he knows.


End file.
